Commentary The city of Santa Monica digitized citizen engagement 7th November 2022 The city of Santa Monica, Calif., is one of the busiest beach towns in the world. The city’s population is 93,000, but it grows to an estimated 250,000 during the day. With the massive crowd from tourism filling our beaches, dining in our restaurants and shopping in our mall, it can be a challenge to […]
Commentary Creating a menu of city standards for better outdoor dining guidelines 4th November 2022 Prompted by pandemic restrictions as well as an increased interest in pedestrian-friendly streets, outdoor dining installations have rapidly grown in recent years. In New York, for instance, the city issued more than 12,000 outdoor dining permits to restaurants under its Open Restaurants program. In Los Angeles, more than 2,500 businesses have taken advantage of the […]
Commentary 3 tips for getting a bigger piece of the IIJA pie 31st October 2022 The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law, will bring profound improvements to America’s roads and bridges, railways, water systems, improved emergency management and mitigation, and broadband access. IIJA’s competitive grants, increased funding levels, and emphasis on local investment, are especially exciting components of the law as […]
Commentary How capital improvement project prioritization helps secure infrastructure funding 9th August 2022 Trillions of dollars in federal infrastructure funding have been made available to state and local governments across the U.S. since early 2020. This money has been allocated to address the nation’s aging infrastructure, much of which is at or near the end of its useful life, and to bolster the U.S. economy in the wake […]
Article Investing in America’s onsite wastewater treatment systems for equity and sustainability 4th August 2022 Ensuring that all U.S. households have access to clean water and sanitation will require a re-alignment of resources and investment, not only for centralized wastewater treatment systems but for decentralized ones too. Nearly 20 percent of America’s households today depend on onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS or onsite systems), but only about 2 percent of […]
Commentary Proposed update to Community Reinvestment Act could support neighborhood recovery 28th July 2022 The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is a U.S. federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Congress passed the Act in 1977 to reduce discriminatory credit practices against low-income neighborhoods, a practice known as redlining. […]
Article Oklahoma City puts the focus on employees when implementing changes in office technology 22nd June 2022 The City of Oklahoma City (OKC) is no stranger to growing pains. Like so many cities and local governments facing budget, resource and time constraints, the fastest-growing city in Oklahoma has, at times, had to do more with less. But despite this, we’ve remained committed to advancing our city forward and putting our 5,000+ employees […]
Article The sharing economy: Helping cities meet their sustainability goals 31st May 2022 Individualism has been a watchword of society in North America since the colonial days, and belief in the spirit of the rugged individual helped build the government we know and love today. As our society became larger and more interconnected, we have come to realize that individualism can only get us so far. Problems such […]
Commentary EVs are coming in a big way – Will charging infrastructure be ready? 24th May 2022 The California Air Resources Board recently announced a new goal of tripling electric vehicle (EV) sales over the next four years, reaching 35 percent of all new vehicle sales in the state by 2026. An executive order is already in place dictating that zero-emission vehicles will be 100 percent of all new vehicle sales in […]
Commentary Looking to increase civic engagement? Support the local press 9th May 2022 The McGregor Mirror in Texas; The Mayo Free Press in Florida; The Olive Hill Times in Kentucky; The Progress Review in Iowa: What do all of these news outlets have in common? They’re all defunct; closed in the last year due to declining revenue and budget shortfalls. Over the last 50 years, the journalism industry has […]
Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina 13th October 2020